Houston handled the heat and humidity better than we did. After pressing hard early on, we just ran out of gas at around 35' and never really got our mojo back.
That, plus having too many bench players out there at the end when we needed a goal. I mean, we had Nally, Porter, D'Aquila, and Reyes playing while Hina Freaking Sugita was watch…
Houston handled the heat and humidity better than we did. After pressing hard early on, we just ran out of gas at around 35' and never really got our mojo back.
That, plus having too many bench players out there at the end when we needed a goal. I mean, we had Nally, Porter, D'Aquila, and Reyes playing while Hina Freaking Sugita was watching from the bench. (Mind you, Reyes and D'Aquila have potential to be really good, but clearly aren't there yet.) I understand the need to get some of those players some minutes, but not all of them at once when the game is balanced on a knife edge. Bad substitutions, Mr. Norris.
+1. Seemed like a tale of two games--Thorns organized, dangerous and on the front foot for the first half hour, then regression to Brownian motion for the last sixty.
When the response to sluggishness is bringing Sinc off the bench, maybe rethink the whole scheme.
I ‘ve noticed the same thing. Around 30-35 minutes the focus seems to go away, freelancing sort of creeps in. A pass that tactics might dictate isn’t attempted. Instead something more creative, but more risky, is tried. Hubly (and not to single out just Hubly)will dish to the wings and once in a while to a midfielder at the start. But a half hour in, she goes over the top and a turnover results. That turnover in and of itself is not so bad, it just makes it that much harder to establish a flow or keep a flow going. Again, Hubly by far is not the only culprit here, IMO.
I also think that’s indicative of Smith just losing balls left and right. We won’t see any passing metrics to Soph if a pass is never actually completed. She never quite gained/or straight up never got possession (due to poor receiving choices on her part) most of the time a pass was attempted to her.
Once Norris saw that Soph was well marked and having an off game, he should’ve brought in D’Aquila to throw a wrench in the opponent’s game plan and go with a different tactic and different type of player. There were lots of balls being sprayed into the box, but Weaver and Soph are dire with their heads. Would’ve been nice to see a true 9 with aerial ability in there. I should say though, D’Aquila did have a nice lateral run into the center to lay off a point blank pass that Sinclair then missed. Would’ve liked to see her take the shot there, but it was a great pass and nice vision from her.
That's right, Norris: bench the player who grew up in Kitakyushu (not so very different from Houston, climate-wise). Bring in a player who looked gassed from the moment she lumbered onto the field. That's some quality coaching, that is!
I agree the heat and the humidity were big factors. I have only seen the highlights, but even when Rocky scored the players seemed wasted. There didn't seem to be the joy and exuberance. Plus for Sophia, who is on her way to joint the Nationals, looking at Houston's heat and humidity, Koroleva reffing and Chapman defending, I can imagine this game looked like a giant pothole, dangerous, but you have to get by, but certainly being a lot more cautious.
Our die hard fans care more about club than country, but these players know that the World Cup and Olympics will be their biggest audience. Alex Morgan didn't get zillions of Twitter followers from playing for Portland and Orlando. The injuries to Swanson, Mead, Miedema and maybe even Macario make it clear that an ill timed injury now would wreck a lot of dreams. I think we are going to see a lot less aggressive play from those that have a ticket to Aus/NZ in the month of May.
Houston handled the heat and humidity better than we did. After pressing hard early on, we just ran out of gas at around 35' and never really got our mojo back.
That, plus having too many bench players out there at the end when we needed a goal. I mean, we had Nally, Porter, D'Aquila, and Reyes playing while Hina Freaking Sugita was watching from the bench. (Mind you, Reyes and D'Aquila have potential to be really good, but clearly aren't there yet.) I understand the need to get some of those players some minutes, but not all of them at once when the game is balanced on a knife edge. Bad substitutions, Mr. Norris.
+1. Seemed like a tale of two games--Thorns organized, dangerous and on the front foot for the first half hour, then regression to Brownian motion for the last sixty.
When the response to sluggishness is bringing Sinc off the bench, maybe rethink the whole scheme.
I ‘ve noticed the same thing. Around 30-35 minutes the focus seems to go away, freelancing sort of creeps in. A pass that tactics might dictate isn’t attempted. Instead something more creative, but more risky, is tried. Hubly (and not to single out just Hubly)will dish to the wings and once in a while to a midfielder at the start. But a half hour in, she goes over the top and a turnover results. That turnover in and of itself is not so bad, it just makes it that much harder to establish a flow or keep a flow going. Again, Hubly by far is not the only culprit here, IMO.
xG track shows the eye don't lie.
https://twitter.com/arielle_dror/status/1657448164679622656?cxt=HHwWgIDRleCUuIAuAAAA
Look at the passing, too. Everything goes to the wings. Smith is stranded.
I also think that’s indicative of Smith just losing balls left and right. We won’t see any passing metrics to Soph if a pass is never actually completed. She never quite gained/or straight up never got possession (due to poor receiving choices on her part) most of the time a pass was attempted to her.
Once Norris saw that Soph was well marked and having an off game, he should’ve brought in D’Aquila to throw a wrench in the opponent’s game plan and go with a different tactic and different type of player. There were lots of balls being sprayed into the box, but Weaver and Soph are dire with their heads. Would’ve been nice to see a true 9 with aerial ability in there. I should say though, D’Aquila did have a nice lateral run into the center to lay off a point blank pass that Sinclair then missed. Would’ve liked to see her take the shot there, but it was a great pass and nice vision from her.
That's right, Norris: bench the player who grew up in Kitakyushu (not so very different from Houston, climate-wise). Bring in a player who looked gassed from the moment she lumbered onto the field. That's some quality coaching, that is!
Also did Coffey and Weaver look toasted before they were subbed off? I didn't notice it, but maybe I missed it.
Dunn was clearly in worse shape than either of them.
I agree the heat and the humidity were big factors. I have only seen the highlights, but even when Rocky scored the players seemed wasted. There didn't seem to be the joy and exuberance. Plus for Sophia, who is on her way to joint the Nationals, looking at Houston's heat and humidity, Koroleva reffing and Chapman defending, I can imagine this game looked like a giant pothole, dangerous, but you have to get by, but certainly being a lot more cautious.
Our die hard fans care more about club than country, but these players know that the World Cup and Olympics will be their biggest audience. Alex Morgan didn't get zillions of Twitter followers from playing for Portland and Orlando. The injuries to Swanson, Mead, Miedema and maybe even Macario make it clear that an ill timed injury now would wreck a lot of dreams. I think we are going to see a lot less aggressive play from those that have a ticket to Aus/NZ in the month of May.